Detailing Attorneys to the Department of Justice to Serve as Immigration Judges and Special Assistant United States Attorneys

CourtDepartment of Justice Office of Legal Counsel
DecidedOctober 23, 2025
StatusPublished

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Detailing Attorneys to the Department of Justice to Serve as Immigration Judges and Special Assistant United States Attorneys, (olc 2025).

Opinion

(Slip Opinion)

Detailing Attorneys to the Department of Justice to Serve as Immigration Judges and Special Assistant United States Attorneys The Department of War may detail attorneys to serve as immigration judges on a reimbursable basis. The Department may also detail attorneys to serve as Special Assistant United States Attorneys on a non-reimbursable basis so long as a purpose of the detail is to provide training. The Posse Comitatus Act does not preclude the use of military attorneys as immigration judges or Special Assistant United States Attorneys provided the details occur on a full-time basis and the detailees operate fully under civilian control and supervision .

October 23, 2025

MEMORANDUM OPINION FOR THE GENERAL COUNSEL DEPARTMENT OF WAR

You asked whether the Secretary of War (“Secretary”) may detail at- torneys, including military lawyers, to temporarily assist the Attorney General in addressing two different Executive Branch priorities: promptly adjudicating immigration cases and conducting criminal prosecutions in the District of Columbia. Although the analysis varies slightly between the two situations, we advised that the Secretary may send, and the Attor- ney General may receive, personnel, including military personnel, to serve on detail as temporary immigration judges (“IJs”) or as Special Assistant United States Attorneys (“SAUSAs”), subject to certain conditions. This memorandum memorializes the basis for the advice we gave you. Our analysis proceeds in five parts. After a brief introduction regarding the nature of the Secretary’s assistance to the Attorney General, see Part I, Part II clarifies why the Secretary has the authority to send, and the Attor- ney General has the authority to receive, the detailees. Part III explains that, under the facts you have presented to us, detailees may serve as SAUSAs on a non-reimbursable basis, but details to IJ positions should be reimbursable, consistent with the Economy Act, 31 U.S.C. § 1535. Part IV demonstrates that the Posse Comitatus Act (“PCA”), 18 U.S.C. § 1385, does not preclude use of military attorneys in either capacity because the details of military attorneys will occur on a full-time basis and the detail- ees will operate fully under civilian supervision for the duration of the detail. Part V provides a brief summary of our conclusions.

1 49 Op. O.L.C. __ (Oct. 23, 2025)

I.

In his efforts to make America safe and the border secure, the President ordered several initiatives that have increased demands on the existing staffing resources of the Department of Justice (“DOJ”). Two such initia- tives are relevant here: addressing the backlog of immigration cases caused by the migration crisis at the Nation’s border and prosecuting those who have participated in a wave of violent crime in the Nation’s capital. Consistent with the wide ambit of these initiatives, DOJ officials requested that the Secretary detail personnel to assist in each of these two endeavors. First, on August 23, 2025, the Executive Office for Immigration Re- view (“EOIR”) requested that the Secretary detail up to 600 lawyers to DOJ to serve as temporary IJs for a period not to exceed 179 days. See Memorandum for Colonel Anthony Fuscellaro, Executive Secretary, Department of War, from Sirce E. Owen, Acting Director, Executive Office for Immigration Review, Department of Justice, Re: Request for Department of Defense Assistance (Aug. 23, 2025) (“EOIR Request”). Each detailee’s service would be renewable, but all 600 would not serve simultaneously. See id. To the contrary, the request contemplated that the details would occur in phased cohorts of up to 150 attorneys. See id. The request made clear that the attorneys would not perform the func- tions of their Department of War (“DOW”) position of record while on detail. Id. Instead, detailees would operate on a full-time basis within DOJ, function in an entirely civilian capacity, and work under the super- vision of DOJ officials. Id. Moreover, they would receive all necessary instructions and training on presiding over various types of immigration court proceedings from experienced DOJ personnel. Id. Finally, EOIR would reimburse DOW for the salaries and expenses of these detailed lawyers. Id. You have advised that, to fulfill this request, each branch of the armed forces was asked to identify 100 possible candidates from among civilian attorneys it employs, Judge Advocates on active duty, and reservists available for active duty. The remainder will be members of the National Guard, who will be placed into federal service. Second, and roughly contemporaneously, the United States Attorney for the District of Columbia requested that the Secretary detail 20 attorneys to

2 Detailing Attorneys to the Department of Justice

serve as SAUSAs and assist in prosecuting misdemeanors in the Nation’s capital. See Memorandum for Colonel Anthony Fuscellaro, Executive Secretary, Department of War, from Jeanine Ferris Pirro, United States Attorney, District of Columbia, Re: Request for Assistance from the Department of Defense in support of Executive Order 14252, Making the District of Columbia Safe and Beautiful at 1 (Aug. 18, 2025) (“USADC Request”). These details are expected to last seven to ten months. See id. Unlike the IJs, however, the detail of lawyers to SAUSA positions is on a non-reimbursable basis. This request was made pursuant to a longstanding program in which lawyers are detailed to U.S. Attorneys’ offices in and around federal military installations—of which there are several in Wash- ington, D.C.—in order to receive valuable training and provide additional support to local prosecutors. 1 See id. at 2 (noting that “[m]any agencies throughout the federal government regularly send attorneys to [the Dis- trict of Columbia United States Attorney’s] SAUSA program to enhance their attorneys’ litigation and courtroom skills”). Individual memoranda of understanding for these details were issued pursuant to those programs.

II.

Federal law permits interagency details of lawyers, including military lawyers, to serve as either SAUSAs or temporary IJs. The precise method of doing so may vary slightly, however, between the two programs.

A.

The Secretary has broad discretion to detail personnel to other federal agencies to serve a federal purpose, subject to the limitations of appropria- tions law, infra Part III, and for military personnel, the PCA, infra Part IV.2 For reimbursable details, the Economy Act permits an agency to place

1 See, e.g., Memorandum from David G. Wilson, Commander, Naval Legal Service

Command, Re: Naval Legal Service Command Support to United States Attorney’s Office Prosecution in Federal Magistrate Court (July 22, 2025). 2 The Secretary has indicated that members of the National Guard are among those he

intends to detail to DOJ as either SAUSAs or IJs. Although National Guard members are ordinarily under state control, DOW personnel have indicated that they will invoke standard procedures to bring the Guardsmen into title 10 duty status under the U.S. Code.

3 49 Op. O.L.C. __ (Oct. 23, 2025)

an order with another agency for goods or services, provided in relevant part that “the head of the ordering agency or unit decides the order is in the best interest of the United States Government,” the “services cannot be provided by contract as conveniently or cheaply by a commercial enter- prise,” and the fulfilling agency is “able to provide or get by contract” the requested goods or services. 31 U.S.C. § 1535(a).

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